NYC’s Summer of Hell

“The Summer of Hell” is a common refrain uttered in the New York metro area. Pennsylvania Station, an underground labyrinth of hallways, shops, tunnels and railroad tracks in midtown Manhattan, is in a state of semi-paralysis — nearly half the train service there has been shut down to accommodate track repairs. These were postponed for years until several derailments at the station this past spring compelled the three major service providers at Penn — Amtrak, Long Island Railroad and New Jersey Transit — to bite the bullet and fix them.

Train service has been cut, leading many commuters choosing to drive into work, adding to congestion on the already crowded tri-state highways. Driving, of course, pollutes the air with more greenhouse gases, nitrogen oxides and other harmful substances.

Train accidents, once a rarity, have happened elsewhere in the NYC metro area with alarming frequency. Derailments have occurred on the city’s subway and on commuter rail lines, one of which left 37 people injured. People are understandably nervous.

I join many New Yorkers in calling for a modernized subway system, at least in the metro area. Much of the signal equipment predates World War Two and looks like something out of a mad scientist’s lab in a steampunk fantasy tale. London, whose subway system predates even New York’s, has an updated signal and power system that allows it to run almost twice as many trains a day.

The reliability of subway power has also been the source of many delays, the worst of which occurred on April 21, 2017. As reported in The New York Times, “. . . the power failed at the Seventh Avenue station at 53rd Street in the heart of Manhattan. The backup power supply also failed. At 7:30 AM, trains pulling in and out of the station were halted. Then trains behind those trains screeched to a stop. On and on it went until nearly half the city’s subway lines were delayed, and hundreds of thousands of commuters were stranded underground, many for hours.” 

Not surprisingly, the system powering the subways is aging and complex. Governor Cuomo has ordered Con Edison, the utility supplying the power, to identify and repair the problems spread over 600 miles of tracks. He has given them one year to do it.

Many subway delays are caused by the riding public, including sick passengers and people holding the subway car doors open. The issue of sick passengers is being addressed by the MTA by adding EMT teams at busy subway stations. Delays from people holding the doors open is usually due to platform crowding, so it’s a bit of a chicken and egg situation. The plan to add train cars may help, and perhaps installing train countdown displays at each station will too, so people needn’t worry about missing a train and having to wait.

Proposals to switch to digital signal technology, used by most other rapid transit systems, are often turned down due to the time involved and the high cost. Case in point: the L line linking Manhattan with Brooklyn underwent a conversion to digital signals in the early 2000s at a cost of $600 million. The 7 train started its conversion to digital in 2010 and will be complete next year at a cost of $766 million. Thus, two subway lines will be converted by 2018. NYC has two dozen lines spread out over 600 miles of track. A lot remains to be done, at a substantial cost.

Nonetheless, the subway system must be upgraded. It is the lifeblood of New York City. If the signal and power systems were modernized, the trains below our streets would run faster, more often, and more on time. Delays would diminish, our subway platforms would hopefully be less crowded and, in the summer, less sweltering. My fear of falling onto the tracks would dissipate, knowing I didn’t have to share a ten-foot-wide strip of concrete with hundreds of others.

The Atlantic Chapter Transportation Committee looks into transit-related issues across the state. As chair of this committee, I invite all who are interested to join. We strategize the best ways to achieve a more connected, greener New York. Please send me an e-mail at markbenedetti9@gmail.com if you’d like to join, voice your opinion, or make a suggestion on an issue or ways to achieve our goals. We seriously look into issues involving the MTA and invite all those who want to help out.

We don’t have to live like this while traveling the city rails. We can do better.